1,720,962 research outputs found
Essential amino acids increase the growth and alkaline phosphatase activity in osteoblasts cultured in vitro
No full textAn inadequate protein intake seems to be involved in the pathogenesis of osteoporosis. Moreover, protein from animal sources appears to protect against hip fracture, while protein from vegetable sources, which present low levels of essential amino acids, has no effect. In this preliminary work, the growth, the alkaline phosphatase activity and the collagen synthesis were evaluated in osteoblast cultures obtained from calvaria of newborn Sprague-Dawley rats and incubated with lysine, threonine, methionine, triptophan and arginine. Our results have shown that the essential amino acids can modulate the growth and the differentiation of osteoblasts cultured in vitro, confirming the relationship between osteoporotic hip fracture and inadequate protein intake. The compounds have mainly enhanced cell growth and alkaline phosphatase activity, and, to a lower degree, collagen synthesis. In summary, the essential amino acids can stimulate bone formation and could represents useful agents for the prevention and therapy of osteoporosis
Prostaglandin F2 alpha can modulate the growth and the differentiation of bovine corneal epithelial cells cultured in vitro
No full textThe effects of PGF2 alpha on the growth, morphology, morphometry and keratinization pattern of bovine corneal epithelial cells cultured in vitro were studied. The cells were grown with a basal medium or, in the presence of keratocytes and/or their products, using a keratocyte-conditioning medium. Cell growth was evaluated by MTT assay. Daily treatments with exogenous PGF2 alpha at concentrations equal to or lower than 10(-6) M induced significant increases in cell proliferation when the epithelial cells were cultured on a keratocyte feeder-layer or with the conditioning medium. No variations were observed in cultures grown with the basal medium. 10(-5) M PGF2 alpha induced a decrease in cell growth under all culturing conditions. PGF2 alpha did not affect cell morphology and modified only nuclear dimensions among the cells grown under different culturing conditions. No variations of any parameters were observed between cells cultured on feeder-layer, with conditioning or basal medium and the corresponding cultures supplemented with the autacoid. Moreover, PGF2 alpha induced only the disappearance of 43 kDa keratin in cells grown on basal medium, while the keratin pattern of epithelial cells cultured on feeder-layer or with the conditioning medium was not modified by the autacoid. From these data we can suppose that a cooperation could exist between PGF2 alpha and fibroblasts and their products for the modulation of cell growth. Finally, it was observed that the autacoid had no effect on cell morphology and morphometry, except for nuclear dimensions, despite the presence of other prostaglandins, such as PGE2
Effects of prostaglandins E1 and E2 on the growth and differentiation of osteoblast-like cells cultured in vitro
No full textProstaglandins E (PGEs) are abundantly produced in the skeletal tissue, the turnover of which they can modulate acting on both bone deposition and resorption. We compared the effects of PGE1 and PGE2 on the growth and differentiation of rat bone-marrow osteoblast-like cells cultured in vitro. Both PGEs stimulated cultured cell growth, PGE2 being more effective than PGE1. PGE1 inhibited and PGE2 enhanced alkaline phosphatase activity. Both PGEs markedly raised osteocalcin synthesis, without apparently affecting collagenase-digestible protein production. Scanning electron microscopy showed that untreated cultured osteoblast-like cells were arranged in clusters and displayed a polygonal shape. PGE1 did not alter cell morphology, while PGE2 provoked elongation of cultured cells and sprouting of slend cytoplasmic processes. Morphometric analysis indicated that PGE1 decreased and PGE2 increased cultured-cell dimensions. Collectively, these findings allow us to conclude that PGE1 and PGE2, although being both able to enhance proliferation of osteoblast-like cells cultured in vitro, exert divergent effects on their differentiation. PGE1 seems to slow-down osteoblast maturation, while PGE2 appears to stimulate osteoblast differentiation to mature osteocytes
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Effects of beta-amyloid on rat neuromicrovascular endothelial cells cultured in vitro
No full textSeveral studies have shown that β-amyloid (BA) deposits are associated with damage of cerebral vessels and that in Alzheimer's disease (AD) β A peptides are cytotoxic for cerebral endotheial cells (ECs). However, little is known about the mechanisms underlying these effects of β A peptides. Hence, we have investigated the effects of β A(1-40) and β A(1-42) on rat neuromicrovascular ECs (NECs) cultured in. vitro. NECs were isolated, plated (1.5 x 10(4) cells/cm(2)) on collagen/fibronectin-coated Petri dishes and cultured in EC Growth medium MV2. After 24 h of culture, NECs were incubated with β A(1-40) and β A(1-42) (10(-9) or 10(-7) M) and cultured for another 3, 24 or 48 h. Cell viability was assayed by either trypan blue exclusion or by measuring redox activity (MTS assay). Cell proliferation was assessed by measuring the incorporation of 5'-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine into DNA, cell apoptosis by TUNEL assay and cell necrosis by evaluating the release of lactate dehydrogenase. The morphology of cultured NECs was examined by transmission electron microscopy. Other NECs were plated (2.5 x 10(4) cells/cm(2)) on Matrigel coated-wells and incubated for 18 h in the presence or absence of β A peptides for in vitro angiogenesis assay. BA peptides significantly decreased NEC viability and enhanced cell apoptosis and necrosis rates. NEC proliferation was not significantly affected. The effects were seen after an incubation period of 3 h (and also 24 h in the case of the redox activity) but not 48 h and β A(1-42) was much more effective in its toxic effects than β A(1-40). NECs incubated for 24 h with β A peptides displayed ultrastructural signs of cell degeneration. β A peptides prevented NECs cultured on Matrigel to form a capillary-like network and image analysis showed that the downloading of dimensional and topological parameters of the meshwork was significant only in the case of the incubation with β A(1-42). Collectively our findings allow us to conclude that i) β A peptides exert a marked toxic effect on cultured NECs, which conceivably reduces their in vitro angiogenic activity; ii) β A(1-42) is the more toxic form, which could suggest its main role in the pathogenesis of cerebral vessel lesions in AD and iii) the maximum toxic action occurs after a short incubation period, which could be explained by assuming that BA peptides are unable to accumulate in NECs due to their rapid degradation, thereby allowing NECs to fully recover within 48 h
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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